CLICO insurance agents were yesterday given orders to vacate the company’s Head Office on Camp Street, by former Chief Executive Officer of the company Geeta Singh-Knight. Singh-Knight was appointed as Assistant Manager to Maria van Beek, after the company was placed under Judicial Management in February.
Agents told this newspaper that they went to work as per normal yesterday morning, when they were told that they had to vacate the premises by yesterday afternoon. This left many agents infuriated and some saw it as a case of insult being added to injury. In March of this year, the two buildings which closed the agents on Lamaha Street and Irving were closed down and the agents were relocated to the Head Office. In April, the agents launched a protest over the non-payment of their commissions and about the manner in which they were being treated by the management of the embattled company. On that occasion, the agents complained that they had not received any of their commissions since January.
This newspaper understands that the payment of outstanding commissions remains unsettled.
CLICO (Guyana) was placed under Judicial Management on February 25 after CLICO (Bahamas) was put into liquidation. The Bahamian company held US$34 million of CLICO (Guyana)’s money, which represented 53% of the local company’s assets. This exposure put CLICO (Guyana’s) liquidity under enormous strain.
